Former Maple Leaf Foods exec tapped as Hydro One CFO

TORONTO—Hydro One has announced that Michael Vels, most recently the finance chief at Maple Leaf Foods, has been appointed to lead the holding company through its upcoming initial public offering as CFO.

“Mr. Vels’ appointment represents an important next step in the process to sell a portion of Ontario’s interest in Hydro One through an initial public offering ,” David Denison, chair of the Hydro One board of directors, said. “As a seasoned financial executive, Michael Vels brings the requisite skills, talents and experiences to the role and is well-positioned to help lead the Company at this critical point in its evolution.”

Mr. Vels most recent posting was as CFO of Maple Leaf Foods, where he had taken on increasing responsibility in numerous positions since starting with the company in 1991. He was the long-serving finance chief at the company’s Canada Breads division before being appointed overall CFO of Maple Leaf. He parted with Maple Leaf after the company sold its bread division to Grupo Bimbo last year. Prior to Maple Leaf, Vels worked in public accounting in Canada and mergers and acquisitions in the UK. He received his chartered accountant designation in South Africa in 1985.

Hydro One says Mr. Vels brings considerable executive level experience in public company governance, debt and equity capital raising, mergers and acquisitions and information technology. He will take up the post July 1 and oversee the company’s high-profile IPO estimated to fetch up to $9-billion.